Why aren't Japanese toilets more popular?
Things have been pretty serious around here lately. We've been talking a lot about isolationist tariffs that make zero economic sense and that have been blatantly miscalculated, and so let's switch gears and talk about something a little more fun: toilets.
If any of you remember my post from earlier this year called "Takeaways from Japan," you might remember this:
Our toilets are in the stone ages. You’re not going to get yourself clean with just paper. You need a comfortable warm seat and highly adjustable jets of water. I never fully appreciated this need before the trip, but now I’m a true believer. It’s time for a new toilet.
Well, I meant it when I said it:
This week, I finally got around to installing a new TOTO WASHLET seat on my existing toilet. My bathroom may now look a little more geriatric, but it's a fantastic quality of life upgrade that more people, outside of Japan, should adopt. So why don't they?
The TOTO WASHLET seat was first created in 1980. And since then (and up until 2022), the company has reported selling more than 60 million units, with the majority of them being sold in Japan. As of 2021, it was believed that over 80% of Japanese households were equipped with some sort of heated bidet toilet.
Market penetration is much lower in the West. In the US, ChatGPT think it's less than 5%. And based on anecdotal evidence, this does not seem far off. I almost never see them in public places (though The Butcher Chef here in Toronto has one) and I rarely see them in people's homes.
My gut is that it's a combination of a lack of awareness and people thinking it's weird and/or unhygienic. I mean, is that wand clean? But if you travel to Japan, you will have an aha moment. So maybe TOTO needs to figure out a way to export this moment to the rest of the world through, oh I don't know, some sort of public toilet program.
Note: This post is not sponsored by TOTO. But I really wish it were, because then maybe I would have gotten my seat for free.
I bought a Brondell washlet seat at Costco for less than $100. It does not need electricity, just hooks up to the valve on the toilet. Sure, it’s not heated and has no fan but what I was interested in and what I think is most important is the water jet on your tush. Now what I’m looking for is quilted toilet paper like I had in France where you only need two squares to finish the job 😁
Yes, there are a ton of cost effective options on the market. I have not tried this toilet paper before!
My mom visited and asked me to install this in my home. Digging deeper we discovered it was impossible because we don’t have any outlets close enough to the toilet. Standard codes would need to change for this to be easily installed, either at initial build or later addition.
This is a barrier. I'm running an extension cord. So part of the answer is developers/builders :)
My history if the bidet https://lloydalter.substack.com/p/why-everyone-should-have-a-bidet
A historian of bidets wrote "Americans were introduced to bidets on a broad scale during World War II, when troops were stationed in Europe. GIs visiting bordellos would often see bidets in the bathrooms, so they began to associate these basins with sex work. Given America’s puritanical past, it makes sense that, once back home, servicemen would feel squeamish about presenting these fixtures to their homeland."
Very interesting.